House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicts that five large states will put Democrats in striking distance of gaining control of the House after the November elections.

The White House says it won't recoil from raising grave human rights concerns during a get-acquainted visit next week by China's likely future leader.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he thinks it would be wrong to allow women to serve in combat.

The U.S. Conference of Bishops is withholding its endorsement of the change to President Obama's birth control rule until it sees the details.

A lawyer for John Edwards is defending his campaign's 2011 spending, saying the expenses were related to last year's criminal probe of the former presidential candidate and a federal audit.

Gov. Rick Perry has given $80,000 in tainted campaign donations to El Paso charities, after the original donor was convicted of bribery and fraud.

Ben Bernanke says declines in home prices have forced many Americans to cut back sharply on spending and warns that the trend could continue to weigh on the economy for years.

Michelle Obama is spicing up school lunches with cooks from Bravo's Top Chef and the Dallas Cowboys football team. 

Mitt Romney's campaign will allow its senior aides to speak at fundraising events for an outside political group raising millions of dollars on its behalf.

Rick Santorum says he wants to stick to substantive issues in the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, rather than resort to the kind of negative advertising that others have used so far this year.